This invention relates to a blasting positioning device for unblocking mine draw points, ore passes, backfill raises or any other near vertical raises, where rock or other free falling material may get blocked during use.
Mine draw points, ore passes, backfill raises or any other near vertical raises often get blocked during use and it is often difficult and unsafe to unblock them. It is highly unsafe for a miner to work in a blocked area and more particularly underneath that area.
It is common in the mining industry to unblock such a blocked area by attaching explosive material at the upper end of a string of poles, bracing the lower end of the string at the base of the area and thereafter igniting the explosive material to blast and displace the material blocking the area.
It is also common in the mining industry to unblock a blocked area using a device which is propelled by air whereby the device, to which explosive material is attached, is positioned by feeding pressurized air into the air chamber of such device.
However, the above techniques of getting the blasting device in position are either dangerous, do not get the explosive material exactly where it should go, are difficult to control, are expensive to operate and breakage may take place at times. Furthermore, working in the area immediately adjacent to the base of a blocked area is generally very dangerous and therefore some blocked areas may never be unblocked, or only partially, resulting in great losses to mining authorities.